Founded in 1846 by Charles Scribner, Scribner was originally a publisher of religious books. By 1870, the company had turned to literature and begun publishing, in addition to books, Scribner’s Monthly, “an illustrated magazine for the people.” The magazine and its successor, Scribner’s Magazine, attracted fresh young writers, many of whom became Scribner authors.

Charles Scribner II took over in 1879 after the deaths of his father and older brother, and under this guidance, the company became identified with the giants of twentieth-century American literature, such as Henry James and Edith Wharton. In short succession, Charles Scribner’s Sons published Ring Lardner, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Famed editors Maxwell Perkins and John Hall Wheelock realized that a new era in American literature was dawning, and in 1920 F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first novel, This Side of Paradise, proclaimed the Jazz Age.

In 1978, Scribner acquired Atheneum, and in 1984 merged with Macmillan. Today, under publisher Susan Moldow and editor in chief Nan Graham, Scribner has a distinguished list of writers that includes Annie Proulx, author of Brokeback Mountain and The Shipping News, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award; Frank McCourt, whose memoir Angela’s Ashes won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; Don DeLillo, whose novel Underworld won the Howell Award from the Academy of Arts and Letters. Scribner also publishes #1 bestselling author Stephen King, awarded the 2008 Medal of Honor from the National Book Foundation; and a host of other luminary authors including Jeannette Walls, Andrew Solomon, Kathy Reichs, Carol Higgins Clark, Colm Toibin, Chuck Klosterman, and Miranda July.